Getting Hammered in Castleton

Day trip for the Monday Night Boys! Up at 5:30am to get to Phil's for a prompt 6:30am start...or not. Chris of the broken clock was our driver, and arrived just before 7am. Still, nice clear roads and good weather (apart from very thick fog in the Peak District) saw us on site for 9:15am.

As regular readers will know we've been prepping for this tournament for a while. The aim of "Steppe Up" was to test out the new rule changes for Light Horse. Steppe armies with a minimum of two LH were the army selection criteria. We weren't expecting everyone to go with the classic mounted armies, but it was clear that the army choices for many players had been based on what killed light horse, so there were lots of Hungarians with War Wagons, several Graeco-Bactrian and even a couple of Western Sudanese, packed with archers. Complying with the rules but not the spirit. Couple of suggestions if the organiser is going to do this again: put in a requirement for four LH, not two, or define "Steppe" as those so classified on page 136 of the DBA3 rule book.

As previously advertised I took my Mongols (IV/35) and after last Tuesday's games I finally opted to take the artillery piece in lieu of one LH element.

The draw was seeded, with rankings based on previous performances. Mine are few and far between, so I was expecting to be facing a tough challenge. After the first round pairings were done Swiss Chess style.

First game was against Tom with Parthians (II/37). He had a 4Kn General, 2 x 4Kn, 2 x Ps, 1 x 4Ax, 4 x LH and 2 x 3Bw. I knew to be wary of the bows after my most recent games. This was the sort of army I was expecting to face, and I was attacking. I had a plan, which involved breaking up the line with the artillery to make Tom waste PIPs and then fight away from the rough ground with the Psiloi in it. With both of us hiding elements a bit (my artillery has to stay out of trouble) it was 10:11 element game. 

It mostly went to plan, although my artillery, facing off against his Bows (i.e. 4 v 2 in shooting) only inflicted one recoil. I got a "closed door overlap" on the right and the match ups I wanted.

Well, I lost the overlap combat and was recoiled, then failed to make a dent anywhere else. I'd engineered a 3:2 match up in the middle of the line with my LH double ranked. I won that, which then gave me overlaps either side, to hopefully give me recoils and a kill or two (especially against the LH, where I would be 3 or 2 against 1. Well, I won one or two to get recoils and there were a couple of draws. Then Tom  threw in everything willy-nilly, which suited me as I was mostly at evens or had overlaps but I collapsed with a run of 1s in all combats, losing 0:4 in about four turns. 

I was not amused.

As you can see, we were amongst the first to finish this round.

Next game was against Mark, who I have known since University days, but I haven't played him since then, probably. Anyway, Mark is a very good player, and had been unlucky in his first game so this was going to be a tough game. He's using Later Hungarians (IV/43c) with War Wagons (2 x WWg, 1 x 3KnG, 2 x 3Kn, 2 x Sp, 1 x Bd, 1 x Ps, 3 x LH). Luckily for me I brought the artillery. Also, lucky for me I have the higher aggression by +2, so I'll be attacking and will be able to line up as I want.

Or not. I'm defending. No worries I can shift the kit round in turn one. Only I roll 1 PIP. I rolled low PIPs for the first few turns. Mark shifted the right hand WWg out wide, and sealed the table edge with his light horse. He wasn't rolling a lot of PIPs either.

I managed to get an attack in one the right with my massed light horse against his, but even with an advantage, being double depth, I couldn't even engineer a recoil. The artillery couldn't hit anything, and it was all very sluggish. Mark wouldn't come forwards - well, he needed two PIPs to move the WWg groups - and I was looking at unfavourable match ups if my artillery can't hit the target, and I also needed 2 PIPs to move it.

As we went into the last 10 minutes it was clear we were heading for a draw, and I'd killed nothing. The quirk of the scoring is you get 0 points for a draw, and 1 for a loss, to encourage players to get on with it. As I'd only got 1 point from the last game I needed to get stuck in. I was better off losing. I attacked all along the line and went down 0:4. Again. I can't really blame the luck. I had no plan for dealing with the WWg if the artillery didn't come off, and my marginal plays failed. On the other hand, in the last turn when I attacked Mark turned most of his +1 or +2 advantages into kills.

Still not amused.

Game Three: The Mongol Civil Wars begin. Tim also has a IV/35 army, although he's gone for the 6 LH, 5 Cv and 1 Art option. I lose the dice off and am defending. I can guess from the side of the terrain board he chose what he's planning, more or less, and deploy accordingly. This picture isn't of set up, but after my first move.

Well, I had a plan and things went well. I got a kill with my artillery early doors, then tempted him out of position so I could get overlaps and advantages. I was shortly 3:0 up, and the last combat of the bound I'd got a "closed door" attack on a light horse element with another overlap, so I was at +3 and only needed a simple outscoring to finish the game off. 

Well I didn't. I got bounced, which made a few elements vulnerable. Tim got enough PIPs to make contacts everywhere he could. I rolled a succession of 1s and 2s in combat and lost 3:4. 

Unbelievable. I nearly went outside and kicked the waste bin.

Lunch break. It was drizzly and miserable outside.

I'm propping up the table now, along with Phil. Maybe a place above him. I now get to play competition organiser Paul, who is making up the numbers because of a drop out. He's using Khazars (III/16). He has 1 x 3KnG, 1 x 3Kn, 4 x Cav, 2 x 7Hd, 2 x LH, 1 x Ps and 1 x Art. 

Solid Horde. I hate them. They count in the competition as a point for a kill, but not towards winning the game.

I was attacking.

Paul played very cagily and in the end I had to take the bait and attack him on a hill at a disadvantage (can't afford a draw if I don't want to finish bottom). I'd done the best to even things up on the flank before hand but he outplayed and out thought me all the way through, so I lost 2:4. 

Can't complain. Beaten by a better player who knew what he was doing.

My stated ambition of "not coming last and winning a game or two" is looking unlikely.

Game Five was against Colin, who had Mongols but without artillery. I was attacking, and Colin produced two of the biggest and ugliest hill terrain pieces I've ever seen or played on. I have no photo of this game.

I set up a trap, and he walked right into it. In a trice I was 3:0 up, and I had two closed door overlaps just to finish him off. 

I got recoiled on both, and then he attacked again and in a flurry of 1s and 2s I lost 3:4. 

Oh no. Not again.

Final game and I'm defending against Jonathan in his first tournament, using Skythians (I/43b). He has 8 x LH, 2 x Ps, 1 x 3KnG and 1 x 3Kn. It may be his first tournament, but John is an experienced player.

In the opening move he sends two LH round my right flank to get into a position to attack my camp, which I have placed carelessly. In his next turn he attacks it and destroys it. B*gg*r. I counter by sending my General to sort them out. The gully stops him being overlapped, and he kills one of the intruders quickly.

The artillery delivers with some line disruption and I'm able to get to grips with his LH using my Cv. He's forced to bring out the Psiloi to protect his flanks and I think I killed one of those too. Romp home (!) with a 4:2 victory.

Bottom half of the final table shows me not last, and I got a win, so I guess I met my personal victory conditions. If things had gone with the odds in my two 3:4 games I'd have picked up another 10 points, and a kill or two in the first two games would have put me comfortably in the top quarter. As it was in the world that doesn't include "What ifs" Chris had bragging rights in the car on the way home.

The tournament winners were using Later Hungarians and Graeco-Bactrians, which I found a bit sad. Still, if I'd been smart enough to think of it, maybe I would have taken them, based on my Hussites.

Nah. I was always going to use the Mongols.

Lessons learned? Have the rule changes made LH better? The 0 PIP move in turn one means you can hide them in Bad/Rough going and then burst out, regardless of what you roll. As Jonathan demonstrated it is much easier to get round an open flank now. Honestly, however, I reckon the main difference was using Steppe terrain, which gives LH the space to move.

Where does that leave DBA (F) then? Well it is sort of in limbo. The authors are continuing to refine the rules, but they don't have the go ahead to publish. WRG can't publish a DBA update without Phil B's say-so and apparently he doesn't think one is necessary (I don't disagree, but I don't play as much as the guys working on the update). So don't hold you breath.

The drive back was dark and wet, but without holdups. Home for 7:30pm, with plenty of time to watch England v Wales on catch up. Only the game wasn't on ITVX, so we had to watch it with Welsh commentary on S4C. I see it is there this morning. What's all that about then?

[Chris k's perceptive report on the day's fun and games can be found here.]